BurmaNet News, October 19, 2004

[Editor]

October 19, 2004, Issue # 2582


INSIDE BURMA
BBC: Burma's prime minister 'arrested'
BBC: Khin Nyunt's fall from grace
AFP: Myanmar announces new PM after top-level shake-up
Irrawaddy: Khin Nyunt under house arrest?
BBC: Burma's hardline generals
BBC: Thai delegation to China stranded in Burma after reported coup

ON THE BORDER
AFP: U.N. refugee officials in Myanmar for talks on Thai border situation

DRUGS
Kaladan News: Smuggling of W.Y Drug Tablets Increases at Burma-Bangladesh
Border
SHAN: Drug mills in peaceful coexistence with drug free project

BUSINESS / MONEY
Reuters: South Korean firms eye Myanmar copper investment

REGIONAL
Kyodo News: E. Timor's Ramos-Horta calls for release of Myanmar's Suu Kyi
The Bangkok Post: B4 billion loan to Burma: Govt under fire for extending
funds

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: US calls on EU and others to slap full import ban on Myanmar

______________________________________

October 19, British Broadcasting Corporation
Burma's prime minister 'arrested'

Conservative elements in Burma's military junta have ousted Prime Minister
Khin Nyunt and put him under house arrest, Thai officials say.

"Khin Nyunt was removed from his position," Thailand's Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra told reporters.

In recent months diplomats have spoken of a power struggle between Khin
Nyunt, number three in Burma's hierarchy, and the hard-line Senior General
Than Shwe.

The dispute appears to be more about business than politics, analysts say.

Khin Nyunt's reported ouster would be a blow to those hoping for reform in
Burma, says the BBC's South East Asia correspondent, Kylie Morris.

He was at least prepared to discuss the release from house arrest of
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Witnesses have told the BBC they have seen soldiers taking up position
outside Khin Nyunt's house in Rangoon.

"We can confirm that Khin Nyunt has been removed from the position of
prime minister and is being detained under house arrest," said Thai
government spokesman Jakrapob Penkair in Bangkok.

"The person who signed the order said Khin Nyunt had been involved in
corruption and not suitable to stay in his position," he added.

The secretive military government in Burma has yet to confirm or deny the
reports, which have come from both Thai officials, Indian intelligence
sources and other unofficial sources inside Burma.

Khin Nyunt was also head of military intelligence, and several companies
run by the intelligence service have been shut down in recent days, amid
reports that intelligence officials have been arrested.

There was an increased troop presence outside military intelligence
headquarters in the city, witnesses said.

Losing grip on power

As Prime Minister, Khin Nyunt has relied upon Burma's secret police to
shore up his power.

But Senior General Than Shwe and his number two, Maung Aye, hold the
loyalty of the key factions within the army.

Amid mounting signs of disagreement within the high echelons of Burma's
military hierarchy, a cabinet reshuffle last month promoted so-called
hardliners at the expense of others who - like Khin Nyunt - took a more
open stance.

Consequently Khin Nyunt's position has weakened of late, and it now seems
like hard-line forces have prevailed, according to our correspondent.

Khin Nyunt was seen as favouring talks with pro-democracy leader Aung San
Suu Kyi, and soon after his appointment announced a seven-point roadmap to
democracy.

But Than Shwe remains strongly opposed to any role for the Nobel laureate.

Her release was widely expected prior to the resumption of the National
Convention in May but Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest.

____________________________________

October 19, British Broadcasting Corporation
Khin Nyunt's fall from grace - Kate McGeown

Burma's prime minister Khin Nyunt has reportedly been ousted from office
and placed under house arrest.

The reports have yet to be confirmed, but if proved true, Khin Nyunt's
removal appears to be the culmination of a power struggle that has been
going on for months within Burma's secretive military government.

As well as being prime minister and third in Burma's political hierarchy,
Khin Nyunt was also the chief of military intelligence.

This position frequently brought him into disagreement with Burma's
paramount leader Than Shwe, who controls the entire army.

"There has been a conflict between the army and the intelligence for some
time," said Aung Zaw, the editor of Irrawaddy, a publication run by
Burmese journalists in exile.

"They have often been at loggerheads," he told BBC News.

According to Dr Aung Kin, a Burmese historian based in London, Khin
Nyunt's fall from power could be related to Than Shwe's desire to secure
his own future.

Now 71, Than Shwe is past the usual retirement age for Burmese generals,
but has been worried about his safety if he left office, Mr Kin said.

"Military uniform is very important in Burma," Mr Kin said, adding that
without it, Than Shwe would lose both his power and his security.

Now it appears he has tried to solve that problem by purging those
elements within military intelligence which could threaten him.

Not only has Khin Nyunt been reportedly arrested, so too have scores of
other military intelligence officials, according to reports from Burma.

Mr Kin said that the military intelligence service often acted as a broker
between the ruling junta and supporters of the opposition National League
for Democracy (NLD) - whose leader Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house
arrest.

"It's difficult to know for sure what's happening internally," said Mr
Kin, "but Than Shwe might want to create a new military intelligence
service to suit himself" - with little to do with any opposition or
outside influences.

In a country where the military controls everything, including the
economy, business interests could also have been the motivation for Khin
Nyunt's rumoured removal.

Several companies run by the military intelligence have been shut down in
recent days, and Aung Zaw said the changes in Burma could well be due to
"a conflict over how much territory and area [the two sides] can control
in terms of business and armed forces."

Further set-back

Whatever the reasons behind it, analysts said Khin Nyunt's apparent ouster
could be a further setback for efforts - both by opposition and
international groups - to free Aung San Suu Kyi and put Burma on the road
to democracy.

Than Shwe is seen as more hard-line than Khin Nyunt, who at least was
prepared to discuss the release from house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi, and
also outlined a seven-point "roadmap" for change last August.

"Than Shwe doesn't care about international politics, he's only bothered
about Burma's immediate neighbours," said Mr Kin.

"He's one of the most powerful and least educated people in Burma."

But others point out that while Khin Nyunt had a better grasp of
international affairs than Than Shwe, he could hardly be called a liberal.

"He seemed more moderate in some ways, and other countries in the region
certainly thought he could be the solution [to making Burma more
democratic] but he obviously wasn't," said Nyo Ohn Myint, a senior member
of the NLD in exile in Thailand.

He said that although Khin Nyunt had been prime minister for over a year,
there had been no moves towards development.

Nyo Ohn Myint also said he was worried about the safety of the NLD leader.

"We are concerned for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi," he said. ""Khin Nyunt was the
head of intelligence, and she is under their watch. Who is going to look
out for her security?"

Mr Kin was concerned that Khin Nyunt's fall could signal renewed fighting
between Burma's ethnic groups and the government.

The government - led by Khin Nyunt - signed ceasefire agreements with
several rebel groups in the 1990s, but is still in negotiations with the
largest, the Karen National Union.

"I'm not sure these groups with trust Than Shwe," said Mr Kin.

It remains to be seen what effect Khin Nyunt's departure - if proved
correct - will have on Burma in the long term.

Initial indications are not positive, but then as Dr Kin puts it: "At
least it might wake people up to what is happening inside the country."

With so little improvement in the past few years, there is a feeling that
any change in the status quo would be welcome.

"We have to look for something positive," said Aung Zaw.

____________________________________

October 19, Agence France Presse
Myanmar announces new PM after top-level shake-up

State television and radio in military-run Myanmar announced Tuesday that
Prime Minister Khin Nyunt had retired for health reasons and been replaced
by Lieutenant General Soe Win.

The government of neighbouring Thailand announced earlier that Khin Nyunt,
a general who was number three in the junta, had been sacked and was under
house arrest for alleged corruption.

Soe Win is secretary of the junta, known as the State Peace and
Development Council.

He is seen as a loyalist of the head of the regime, Than Shwe, and his
promotion is likely to be interpreted as a strengthening of the position
of military hardliners within the Myanmar leadership.

The announcement came after a day of speculation and rumour over a
shake-up in the top tanks of the Myanmar political leadership.

Khin Nyunt, 65, was the face of the hardline regime overseas and supported
dialogue with the detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Senior General Than Shwe strongly opposes allowing Aung San Suu Kyi any
role in the political process.

Analysts saw Khin Nyunt's arrest as a consolidation of Than Shwe's power
and said it was likely to signal a continued hard line against supporters
of Aung San Suu Kyi, who has now been detained for 16 months -- her third
period of house arrest.

The sacking was also the culmination of growing tensions between rival
factions within the leadership, sources in Myanmar said.

An analyst in Yangon said the sacking was likely to have major
repercussions and followed feuding between military intelligence, headed
by Khin Nyunt for 20 years, and the main body of the military leadership.

___________________________________

October 19, Irrawaddy
Khin Nyunt under house arrest?

Burma’s Prime Minister and Chief of Military Intelligence Gen Khin Nyunt
has been under house arrest according to sources in Rangoon and a Thai
government spokesman.

As yet, Rangoon has not made an official announcement with regard to the
PM’s status, but Thai government spokesman Jakrapob Penkair said that Khin
Nyunt had been put under house arrest on corruption charges.

In Rangoon, rumors of the arrests of top officials and a failed coup
attempt have circulated widely since last night.

“It’s hard to know what’s really going on”, said a Rangoon-based
journalist. “This is an inside story.” Rangoon residents spoken to by
telephone on Tuesday said that there was no increased military presence in
the streets and everything was as normal.

There were unconfirmed reports that Khin Nyunt was arrested at 8:30 pm
last night on his return to Rangoon from Mandalay. There were other
reports, also unconfirmed, that officers from the Ministry of Defense
raided the Office of the Chief of Military Intelligence, or OCMI,
headquarters.

Senior OCMI staffers across the country are rumored to have been arrested
on the orders of Deputy Sr-Gen Maung Aye, army chief and vice chairman of
the State Peace and Development Council, or SPDC, the junta that oversees
the government of Burma.

Sources in Rangoon said that Minister of Home Affairs Col Tin Hlaing was
also arrested. Khin Nyunt’s son Ye Naing Win was rumored to have been
detained and his internet server Bagan Cybertech taken over by the
government. But as of Tuesday the company was still running.

Since last month, tensions between the Burma Army and the OCMI have been
rumored to have been higher than usual. Seventy-odd OCMI personal at Nam
Phakka in Muse township on the Chinese border were reportedly arrested on
the orders of the Lashio commander in September.

Khin Nyunt was appointed Prime Minister in August last year. But his lack
of progress with regard to the National Convention (which was supposed to
draw up a new constitution for the country, but was adjourned indefinitely
in July) and the Burma Army’s refusal to recognize the ceasefire agreement
that his subordinates made with the rebel Karen National Union suggested
that his authority was being undermined.

____________________________________

October 19, British Broadcasting Corporation
Burma's hardline generals

Burma has been ruled by a repressive military junta for the last decade
and a half, prompting economic stagnation and international condemnation.
The junta has been led by three generals wielding almost absolute power.
But in-fighting and a lack of transparency have generated regular rumours
of power struggles at the top.

Than Shwe

Senior General Than Shwe, 71, is the head of the ruling junta and controls
the army. He is the most hard-line leader, strongly opposed to allowing
any political role for opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

After working in the Burmese postal service, Than Shwe joined the army at
the age of 20 and his career included a stint in the department of
psychological warfare.

He has acted as Burma's head of state since 1992, and was initially seen
as more relaxed than his predecessor, General Saw Maung. Some political
prisoners have been released, and human rights groups were allowed to
visit Burma.

But he continues to suppress all dissent, and oversaw the re-arrest of
Aung San Suu Kyi in 2003.

He is said to be superstitious and to regularly seek the advice of
astrologers.

Maung Aye

Maung Aye is also a career soldier and the second most powerful man in the
country.

He is believed to have established strong ties with Burma's many drug
lords in the Golden Triangle while operating as a colonel in the late
1970s and 80s, before he joined the military leadership in 1993.

He has a reputation for ruthlessness and xenophobia, and is also staunchly
opposed to allowing Aung San Suu Kyi any future role.

He is also rumoured to be a hard drinker.

Khin Nyunt

Khin Nyunt was appointed prime minister in 2003, responsible for the day
to day running of the country, and also head of military intelligence.

According to diplomats and other sources inside the capital Rangoon, he
was placed under house arrest on 19 October and accused of corruption, a
frequent charge against those who have fallen from power.

Before his apparent ouster, diplomats regarded him as a pragmatist who saw
the need for reform, and to engage the international community.

He announced a "roadmap" for democracy just five days after his
appointment as premier. This has included a recommendation for talks
between the junta and Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy
(NLD). But there has been little progress so far.

____________________________________

October 19, British Broadcasting Corporation--Text of report by Thai
newspaper Phuchatkan
Thai delegation to China stranded in Burma after reported coup

Chiangmai News Centre--A delegation of almost 50 Chiangrai municipality
officials and press members visiting China's Xishuangbanna since 15
October, who were due back to Thailand today via Tachilek-Mae Sai border
checkpoint, have been stranded in Burma following a reported coup attempt.
Reports on the coup attempt in which Burmese Army Commander Gen Maung Aye,
in the early hours of 19 October, reportedly sent armed troops to seize
Burmese Military Intelligence (MI) and surround the residence of and
detain Burmese prime minister Gen Khin Kyunt remain sketchy.

Meanwhile, the situation along the Burmese-Thai border remains calm.
Reports said that the situation in the capital Rangoon has been closely
monitored by Burmese officials in Tachilek town and especially by Burmese
intelligence officials positioned along Burmese-Thai border who have not
been disarmed and detained, while over 70 of their colleagues along the
Burmese-Chinese stretch of the border were arrested by troops loyal to Gen
Maung Aye last night. Reports said the Burmese-Thai border checkpoints at
Tachilek, Myawadi, among others, remain open as of 1130 local time today.

Police Col Sa-ngop San-udorn, Immigration superintendent of Chiangrai's
Mae Sai district, said the situation at Mae Sai border remains normal. He
said there has been no report of any violent incident. Col Sa-ngop added
that Thai officials have been in constant contacts with their Burmese
counterparts to check on new developments. He said the news about a
possible coup had been circulated for the past one to two weeks. Then two
days ago, the Burmese authorities became specially strict with Thai
agricultural imports until the coup was staged late last night.

Sources in Chiangrai also added that the Chiangrai municipality and other
concerned agencies are trying all possible avenues to contact the Burmese
authorities to ascertain the safety of the delegation of Chiangrai
municipality officials and press members. The Thai delegation set out by
boat on 15 October and was due back via Burma's Hla-Keng Tung-Tachilek and
Mae Sai district of Chiangrai Province today. The delegation reportedly
was already in Burma on the evening of 18 October and contact was since
lost.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

October 18, Agence France Presse
U.N. refugee officials in Myanmar for talks on Thai border situation

Two high-ranking U.N. officials have embarked on a four-day mission to
Myanmar to discuss the repatriation of 130,000 refugees living in camps in
neighboring Thailand.

Assistant High Commissioner Kamel Morjane and the head of United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees' Asia-Pacific bureau, Janet Lim, arrived in
military-ruled country on Monday.

Morjane and Lim met with Myanmar's Minister for Immigration and
Population, Maj. Gen. Sein Htwa. Details of the meeting were not
available.

They are also scheduled to see other top government officials before
visiting the eastern border area with Thailand.

The U.N. officials will travel on Thursday to Thailand, where they are to
meet senior government officials, diplomats, representatives of
non-governmental organizations and UNHCR staff.

Earlier this year, the U.N. agency reached an agreement with Myanmar's
government on preliminary efforts to create conditions that could
eventually lead to the voluntary return of the refugees in Thailand, many
of whom fled fighting between Myanmar government troops and ethnic
minority guerrillas.

However, a UNHCR spokeswoman, Jennifer Pagonis, said Friday in Geneva that
more work needs to be done.

"We want to stress that the current situation in the states along the
Myanmar-Thailand border ... is not conducive to refugee returns," she
said.

Pagonis said efforts were being made to take care of the refugees.

"UNHCR is in the initial stages of providing assistance in the area to
improve basic health, education, community services and infrastructure in
areas of potential refugee return," said Pagonis.

While most groups have reached cease-fires with Myanmar's military
government, the Karen -- the second biggest minority -- continue an armed
struggle.

Since 1994, UNHCR has been repatriating Muslim refugees who fled Myanmar's
western Rakhine state to Bangladesh to escape alleged military
persecution.

According to a UNHCR report covering 2003, the organization has
repatriated 236,293 of about 250,000 Muslim refugees who fled to
Bangladesh.

_____________________________________
DRUGS

October 19, Kaladan News
Smuggling of WY drug tablets increases at Burma-Bangladesh border

Smuggling of WY named drug tablets is now increasing in Burma-Bangladesh
border, a source in the law enforcement agency at Maungdaw said on
condition of anonymity.

Smuggling syndicates on both sides of the Burma and Bangladesh border have
recently increased their operations along the border and the WY drug
tablets are smuggled into Bangladesh from Burma through the different
border routes. At present, there is no bilateral cooperation between Burma
and Bangladesh on repression of smuggling along the common porous border,
the source further added.

Big syndicates of Burmese smuggling rings operate in amalgamation with the
highest in the Burmese junta. Many corrupt officials on both sides of the
border act as party to the illegal cross-border smuggling. The Burmese
smuggling rings operate at Maungdaw and Sittwe in Arakan State in Western
Burma close to Teknaf, Cox’s Bazar and Chittagong in Bangladesh, said a
father of drug addict from Maungdaw town and who has relation with local
Nasaka(Burmese- Border Security Force) authorities.

On the pretext of border trade, volumes of goods imported from Burma are
under invoiced, and through shady deals and arrangements narcotics are
filtered into Bangladesh. Many of the illegal drug traffickers in the area
are so powerful that no government agencies dare to take action against
them for fear of loosing life or jobs, said a trader from Teknaf who
declined to mention his name.

With growing numbers of drug peddlers and vendors across the country,
there is a rising alarm about the trafficking of drugs from Burma. The WY
tablets are replaced heroine that affects mostly youths, who are in the
habit of the heroine. It is so powerful that it enables a youth, who takes
it just for once, to retain his action up to 48 hours and it also
strengthens sex power, the trader further said.

200 tablets are packed in a small package and any person is able to carry
4 to 5 packets hiding in his body to avoid the law enforcement agencies.
It is similar size to the packet of Bangladesh made Sedil tablets. By
micros, mostly private cars, the WY drug tablets are carried from Teknaf
to other places such as Cox’s Bazar, Chittagong and Dhaka, said another
trader from Ukhiya Union under Cox’s Bazar district.

In Burma, WY drug tablet is being sold at Kyat 200 (Bangladesh currency
Tk.13.33) per tablet while in Bangladesh it is being sold at Tk 320. So,
the dealer gets at least Tk 270 profits per tablet in Bangladesh excluding
the expenditure. It smuggled into Bangladesh from Burma since two years
back. In Bangladesh now, due to unrestricted smuggling it has been become
huge and the number of addicts has increased day by day, the trader
further said.

In Burma, amphetamine production in Asia’s Golden Triangle is set to
overtake heroine as the greatest drug threat to the neighboring countries
such as Thailand, China, India, Bangladesh including USA, Australia and
other European countries, said an elderly man named Sayed Akber in
Chittagong, who frequent visits Thailand, Singapore, India and Malaysia.

_____________________________________

October 19, Shan Herald News Agency
Drug mills in peaceful coexistence with drug free project

Opposite Chiangrai, in Monghsat, where the Yawngkha drug free village
project initiated by Thailand has been in operation since 2002, at least 4
drug refineries have also been running side by side with it, reports
Hawkeye from Chiangrai.

Despite the presence of 18 Burma Army infantry battalions that have for
months been on a search and destroy mission against Col Yawdserk’s Shan
State Army “South” in the area, sources who are Lahu, Akha and Shan insist
the factories that have been turning out both “dust” (heroin) and “pills”
(methamphetamine a.k.a yaba) have not stopped functioning except during
“dry periods” when they are running short of raw materials.

All of them are also enjoying the patronage of the local military units:
• Punako, Mongtoom Tract, Monghsat Township
• Nampoong, Loi Tawkham Tract, Tachilek Township
• Hsarmpi, Loi Tawkham Tract, Tachilek Township
• Nayao, Mongkarn Tract, Monghsat Township

“Together, they have formed a sort of boundary around the Thai project at
Yawngkha,” remarked an Akha source to S.H.A.N..

In 2002, according to a report by the Chiangrai-based Doi Tung Development
Project, headed by MR (Mom Rajawong) Disnadda Diskul, the project was
given 20 million baht ($ 0.5 million) by the Thai government to supervise
a sustainable alternative development project there. The project time
frame for 100,000 targeted population is 12 years.

During the two ensuing years, the Project had built 6 weirs, a 500-student
school and a 16-bed hospital. “Whereas we supplied the hardware, it is the
Myanmar and the local government who supply the software - teachers,
doctors and nurses,” reads the report.

The Yawngkha Project, dubbed by MR Disnadda as Doi Tung II, however, is
not without opposition. Among its critics is MC (Mom Chao) Bhisatej
Rajani, who runs the royal crop substitution project at Doi Angkhang in
Chiangmai’s Fang district.

• One reason, as reported by Bangkok Post, 19 February, was Yawngkha,
unlike Doi Angkhang, was not a poppy cultivation area before the crop
substitution started.

• Another reason was that while those who benefited most from the Doi
Angkhang project were the people who had lived in the areas for decades
and had once earned a living from growing poppies, “those in Yongkha
(Yawngkha) now are all newcomers after the local people were forced out.”
yawngkha.jpg From 1999-2001, Rangoon and Panghsang engineered a massive
resettlement program that relocated 126,000 people (according to Lahu
National Development Organization) and 56,000 people (according to the Wa
leadership) from the Chinese border to the present area, where
approximately 48,000 original inhabitants were displaced by the program. 
Out of them, 2,076 people are staying at the Center for Internally
Displaced Persons at Piangfah, just across the border from Chiangrai’s Mae
Fa Luang district.

_____________________________________
BUSINESS / MONEY

October 19, Reuters
South Korean firms eye Myanmar copper investment

South Korea's Daewoo International Corp. and state-run Korea Resources
Corp. may invest in a project to mine a large copper deposit in Myanmar,
Daewoo said on Tuesday.

The two firms are considering taking a stake in Myanmar Ivanhoe Copper Co.
Ltd., the joint venture between the government of the Southeast Asian
country and Canada's Ivanhoe Mines (IVN.TO) that owns the deposit and
operates a nearby mine.

"The company is currently doing research to decide if we will participate
in developing a copper mine in Myanmar," Daewoo International told the
South Korean stock exchange.

It said it planned to report to the exchange again if the investment were
to be finalised.

Copper prices spiked to their highest in almost 16 years last week,
fuelled by strong Chinese demand and tight world supply.

Although prices then retreated 12 percent as investment funds took profit,
the metal is still valued around 40 percent more than a year ago.

Daewoo International and Korea Resources, better known as KORES, conducted
their first round of research at the Letpadaung deposit in north-central
Myanmar in August.

The two firms would shortly dispatch a team to conduct the second round,
Daewoo said.

Investment in Myanmar

Several companies had expressed an interest in investing in the Letpadaung
deposit, industry officials said.

A Myanmar Ivanhoe official said in August that sample mining had begun at
Letpadaung, around 10 km (6.2 miles) from the company's existing S&K mine.

Letpadaung could eventually yield around 125,000 tonnes a year of copper
cathode, he said.

Myanmar Ivanhoe's current operations can yield almost 40,000 tonnes a year
of LME Grade A copper cathode.

KORES supports South Korean firms investing in overseas mining projects
because the country depends on imports for many of its raw materials,
including copper, which is used in construction, machinery and for making
blank coins.

KORES and LG Nikko Copper Inc., South Korea's only copper refinery, signed
this month a $281 million deal with Canada's Chariot Resources Ltd.
(CHD.V) to develop a copper mine in Peru.

_____________________________________
REGIONAL

October 18, Kyodo News
E. Timor's Ramos-Horta calls for release of Myanmar's Suu Kyi

East Timor Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta said Monday the international
community needs to make much greater efforts to secure the release of
Myanmar democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Terming her years-long detention and house arrest "totally unacceptable,"
Ramos-Horta charged the Myanmar junta "were making a mockery" of their own
friends in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations "and of everybody."

"It is a big issue for Aung San Suu Kyi, and the behavior of the Burmese
(Myanmar) military toward her is becoming a real affront to the
international community, becoming an affront to our conscience,"
Ramos-Horta said.

He made the remarks as he prepared to depart on a four-day trip from
Monday to Germany, accompanying East Timor President Xanana Gusmao on an
official visit.

_____________________________________

October 19, Bangkok Post
B4 billion loan to Burma: Govt under fire for extending funds

The Senate yesterday slammed the government for allegedly forcing the
Export-Import Bank to extend a loan to Burma, despite questions about
Rangoon's repayment ability and human rights violations.

A group of senators said the bank was compelled to grant a
four-billion-baht loan to Burma, part of which would be used for the Shin
Satellite broadband project in Rangoon.

Bangkok Senator Chirmsak Pinthong said granting the loan would put the
country at risk if the company could not repay the debt to the Thai
government.

The issue was raised at the upper house in a presentation on the bank's
2000-2002 profit and loss statement by deputy finance minister Varathep
Rattanakorn.

Earlier this year, the Exim Bank approved a 600-million-baht loan for the
Burmese government to buy into the broadband satellite system that Shin
Satellite, the firm partly owned by the Shinawatra family, was chosen to
supply.

The project was proposed as part of the four-billion-baht credit line
Thailand extended to Burma to help develop its infrastructure, on
conditions that materials be purchased from the kingdom and the loans be
repaid within 12 years with a 3% interest.

A son of one of the Burmese leaders was believed to be involved in the
satellite project, said Mr Chirmsak.

"The country's leader [Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra] has used the
administrative policy to benefit his family's telecommunications
business," he said.

Jon Ungphakorn, another Bangkok senator, said he was deeply concerned
after learning that the Exim Bank's loan to Burma was ordered by the Thai
government so as to benefit the businesses of the Thai and Burmese
leaders.

The government should not support Burma because its human rights record
remained bad and its leaders had never supported the democratic system, he
said.

Mr Varathep denied all the accusations, saying the government had chosen
the Exim Bank to grant the loan to Burma because it was most suitable.

Meanwhile, 16 senators led by Klaew Norapati (Khon Kaen) submitted a
letter to Mr Thaksin through the Prime Minister's Office opposing the
requests from the US and the United Nations that a new batch of Thai
soldiers be sent to Iraq.

______________________________
INTERNATIONAL

October 18, Agence France Presse
US calls on EU and others to slap full import ban on Myanmar - P.
Parameswaran

Washington--The United States on Monday called on the European Union and
other democracies to consider imposing a full import ban on Myanmar to
pressure the country's military junta to release opposition leader Aung
San Suu Kyi.

The call came as the political leadership in Myanmar was riven with
tensions amid rumours
Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt may have been removed or arrested,
according to sources in Thailand and Myanmar.

Khin Nyunt was seen as favouring talks with Aung San Suu Kyi.

The United States wants greater cooperation among the international
community to support the Myanmar people's desire for democracy and
national reconciliation, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.

He welcomed the EU's recent announcement of new sanctions on Myanmar
following the junta's failure to meet the EU's October 7 deadline for Aung
San Suu Kyi's release and completion of concrete steps toward
democratization.

"Should Burma continue to deny its citizens basic human rights and
freedoms, we urge the EU and other democracies in the international
community to consider further strengthening sanctions, including placing a
comprehensive import ban on Burmese products," Boucher said.

The United States has been imposing for several years a ban on all imports
from Myanmar, previously known as Burma. It also has frozen the regime's
assets and imposed a ban on granting of travel visas to top regime members
and new US investment inside Myanmar.